As the Wheeler’s Turn

We went to Seattle at the end of May and stayed for 6 weeks.  We’ve been home about 2months…but you know how it is …getting back into the swing of things and school starting!…. so I’ll start with our trip to WA.  We took 6 days to get there and enjoyed 2 whirlwind days with family and friends in UT on the way up. 

We took a little hike in Moab at Arches to let the boys run around a bit.  It is an amazing place!  I recommend it!

We celebrated Great Grandma Wheeler’s birthday with her at the cabin.   The boys loved playing with their (second) cousins and with Aunt Kaye and Uncle Riley too. It was great to reconnect and introduce Silas to everyone.  Special thanks to Kaye and Riley for giving us a place to sleep and for appreciating our boys so much. 

Matt’s Bandmate invited us to dinner at their place.  Matt and Chuck played video games while April and I caught up and the kids played.  Great fun!  I wish they lived closer!

We got to see one of Matt’s friends at his job as Fire chief in Pleasant Grove.  The boys loved sitting in the fire truck! 

Then we had Dinner with our awesome friends Gina and Ian and their son Liam. We miss them tons too!

We also stopped in to see Matt’s cousin Lisa and Fam and my Great Aunt Ann and Uncle Bruce(no photos of them on the way out but I got photos o the way back.

We wish our visits could have lasted longer!  It was great to get out of the car for a bit and catch up with family and friends.  Next installment- Washington! Then Silas’ first b-day and Kaden’s first day of school and Uncle Josh’s wedding!  SO much to catch up on!

I got our outfits for Family photo but I wanted to make sure they would look good on camera.  Let me know what you think.

Should I wear navy instead? Will the boys look to busy together when it’s just them?

Asher woke up every few hours the other night so I asked him if he had bad dreams.  At first he said yes but after I asked him what they were about he said they were good dreams. 

Me: What did you dream about?

A: Snowmen.  They were good snowmen.

me:  What did they do?

A : Throw snowballs.

me:  At you?

A: no.  They were nice.

I should have written this down yesterday because I can’t remember everything else he said.  It sounded like an interesting dream. 

Kaden thinks that kissing is the marriage ceremony.  So now whenever Matt and I kiss he says, “You guys just got married.”  He said it again when I gave him a kiss, “Now we’re married, Mama.”  I told him I was already married to Dada and only Dada. and He replied, “You can marry little boys too.”  We keep telling him we got married back before he was born in Seattle but he keeps telling us we got married in this house.

Silas likes it when Matt and I sit next to each other or when we kiss.  Kaden always wanted just Dada’s attention and would push Matt and I apart when we hugged or push me away when Matt was holding him.  Silas likes to demand attention from both of us so he wants us close together.

Silas likes to point at everything.  He sticks one little finger out and points at your facial features.  He also points and smiles at people in the grocery store.  It’s his way of saying hi. 

Wow! Asher milestones:

He talks more and more clearly, confidently, and elaborately all the time.  It’s fun to hear him start to make up stories to go along with his big bro.

He loves playing with Kaden.  They are best buddies and I am not looking forward to separating them for school in the fall. 

He loves to jump and fall backwards on his back on the couch or bed and to stand on his head (using the couch for support).  He is full of energy.  I want to put him in gymnastics now so he learns how to fall without hurting himself.  Or at least hurting himself less hopefully.

Still needs a nap most days but doesn’t always get one.  If he is fighting too much I make him lay down on the couch and he usually goes to sleep pretty fast.  Kaden is always at a loss when he goes to sleep- he misses his playmate. 

He struggles to learn his colors but he knows his shapes and he can count objects up to at least five.  He seems to understand the one to one ratio counting.  He likes to imitate Kaden who is always telling or asking us what letter words start with.  Kaden told a man in the foyer at church today, “My name is Kaden with a K.”  So Asher said, “My name is Asher with a C.”  Kaden quickly corrected him, “You mean an A.” 

He still makes everyone laugh all the time.  He is a big silly stinker.  He calls people stinker a lot.  And popper, we’re not sure what that means but apparently Poppers eat poppers.  But we don’t eat each other so a popper is a kind of food that a Popper eats.  Make sense? 

He loves Batman, Robots, Duplo, and Star Wars.  He loves Yo Gabba Gabba and Dinosaur train.   He loves ships that fly. 

He has the biggest blue eyes and best smile.  His laughter is contagious.  He is rebellious and likes to do his own thing but he really is listening. Sometimes he is very agreeable and obeys right away with a smile on his face and an, “ok mama.”  and other times(most times?)  he just gives a flat out little, “no.”  He lets his brother clean up the playroom while he continues to play.  He can be bribed and/or threatened into helping out….usuallly. 

He loves to throw things!  So he gets lots of time outs. 

He loves meat and will surprise us with what foods he will try.  He is more likely to eat the same meal as Matt and I than Kaden is (especially if it is on our plate- he thinks it’s cool to eat other people’s food).  He can handle a little spice but not too much.  He always burns his tongue on too hot salsa but he always wants to try it. 

He is totally adorable and a total cuddle bunny!  We LOVE our Asher!!!  Here’s my picture overload:  Just a note- in the second picture he is giving Silas a kiss and not choking him.  

I gave Kaden some of his clean socks to put away in his drawer and he replied, “Aw, man.  I have to do my own dirty work!”

  Kaden asked me what his son of super dad shirt said. I told him and he said, "Like my dad works on the Green Lantern movie. That’s pretty heroish." And I said, " And like your dad loves you and likes to play with you. That’s pretty super." And he said, "Yeah, and he likes to play video games with me too.”

Asher is in a poop and pee phase.  Maybe it’s a sign that he’s ready for potty training?  Or maybe just potty mouth training.  I’m going to wait to fight the battle until Matt is home (just from work- he comes home every night but he’s not here much during the day)  to share in the suffering with me.  Only 20 more days!  This morning Asher was singing about poop and pee and delighting in calling Matt and I stinkers.  He’s quite the stinker.  He has quite a rebellious streak and is content to watch Kaden clean up the whole play room.  I really need to institute a chore chart for both boys and some standards.  Why is it so painful?  Ugh, makes me tired just thinking about a schedule.  Soon enough our days will be ruled by places we need to be and things we need to do. 

Asher’s b-day is on Thursday!  Ack!  Kaden keeps telling me, “And I get one present because it’s not my birthday?  Right?”  This is because we had Asher open one present on Kaden’s birthday (some dollar store stuff).  We didn’t want a total meltdown and he wasn’t old enough yet to understand.  Too bad we didn’t account for Kaden being old enough to understand that he should now get a present on Asher’s b-day.  LOL  dollar store here I come.

He’s my first to do this on his own and initiate it.  Love it!  So cute!

This was before I got him to play peekaboo but still soooo cute!

Silas is 8 months old today! 

He loves soft finger foods.

He has two bottom teeth.

His nose has not stopped running since he was 2 weeks old.

He smiles a lot!

He is very curious and always grabbing at everything.

He is very strong and has pulled himself up to standing by holding onto the furniture or people.

He loves to stand.

He giggles easily.

He moves around the room but it’s hard to catch.  You look at him once and he is in one place and the next second you look at him again and he is in a different spot.

He may skip army crawling and go straight to crawling(on knees and hands)/monkey crawling(on feet and hands and knees).

He is very opinionated and has quite the temper if things are not going the way he wants them to go.

He loves to be held.

He still sleeps on Mama most of the time.  We were making progress with sleep training and then he caught the flu.  We are all better now and starting over again.

Eats Mama milk, gerber baby snacks (puffs and yogurt discs and such), cereal, some baby food but usually just a spoonful or two.

Weighed a a hefty 19 lbs. 9 oz at his last doc visit.

Does not sleep through the night.

Loves his brothers and laughs at them.

Loves peek a boo.

Here’s my best video of him scootin’ around

Every night we ask the boys what their Happy thoughts are so that they go to sleep thinking of happy thoughts.  Matt asked Asher for his happy thought and he replied, “It’s you, Dada!”

Life is good.  We’ve been busy with routine stuff, winter colds, preschool, Kaden’s birthday, play dates to the park and zoo, sleep training….

At the beginning of Feb we had a cold snap that gave us a good amount of snow and then made it too cold to play in for very long. 

Yes those are socks on Asher’s hands.  It’s hard to find gloves in his size!

Trying to make snow angels and snow balls.

This all seems forever ago now!  It was 76 yesterday! 

And here’s Silas being cute!  He knows to smile for the camera.

Silas is now 7 months!  He sits on his own and can scoot around the front room after toys.  He’s not entirely moving with purpose yet- more just reaching for toys and moving in the process.  No crawling yet but it won’t be long.  He is still very tall for his age and average for weight and head circumferance. At 18 pounds he has graduated to a real carseat instead of the infant carrier.  He is quick to smile and to laugh.  We went to the zoo with Kaden’s preschool this last week and everyone was very impressed with his happiness the whole time.  That being said…. this boy likes to be held all of the time.  Recently he was foaming at the mouth with his screamng while I made dinner.  He is another stubborn Wheeler boy.  He sleeps about half the night in his crib, a quarter in his cosleeper and a quarter on me.  He seems to be getting used to the idea of sleeping on his own.  Hopefully he will soon take naps on his own too.  That would give me some much needed freedom to get work done around the house.  I spend way too much of the day trying to get him to sleep or keep him asleep.  He has been teething.  His first tooth came in on Super bowl Sunday and a second shortly followed it.  His diet consists of mostly mama milk with the occasional spoonful of puree and snacks of quickly melting flavored cereals.  We love our giggly Si-guy!

Asher is 2 and 11 months.  He loves playing with his big brother Kaden.  They are always together and I worry about the separation that Kindergarten will make.  Most of the time they get along but there are the usual fights over toys or wrestling fun that gets out of control.  It drives me crazy when they fight over duplo since there are ten million pieces just like the one they are fighting over.  A timer set to give them each a turn with the toy usually works.  Asher is our Drama King still.  He makes us laugh a lot and he eats it all up.  Asher loves Robots and Batman currently.  He has gotten really good at building duplo ships and robots too.  He loves to roar like a dinosaur and do everything Kaden does.  He is a picky eater with different tastes than Kaden.  He will try new foods more easily and loves meat and fruit.  He has a crazy sweet tooth and is always begging for juice or treats so we are trying to limit the amounts of those things in the house. 

Kaden is 5!!!!!  When did that happen?  He is growing up way too fast!  Kaden is a smarty pants boy.  He is always sounding out words and telling us what letter is at the beginning of the word.  He likes to find words that begin with K like his name but that is not as easy as it seems.  He is always saying things like, “ K,K,K, Cookie, cookie starts with K!”  And I have to tell him, “ No, cookie starts with C but it does start with the K,K,K sound.”  He can write his name pretty legibly now.  He loves to learn about animals, especially lizards and ones with scales.   He also loves bugs.  Superheroes and castles and knights rule the house as well.  He makes amazing ships with his Duplo and loves to make different guys with them.  For example, today he is making Angry Birds (like the game) with his Duplo.  Kaden likes to use our logic against us.  Last night he gave us two choices- “Angry Birds or playing video games would make me happy.”  This was after we told him it was too late to play video games when we got home.  Somehow he convinced Matt a round of Angry Birds would be O.K.  So, the logic works on adults as well as kids. We just want choice!    Kaden got a Lego Star Wars book and a Dragonology book for his Birthday that he loves.  I also made him a Kitchen from a two drawer nightstand.  It still needs a little work before it is done completely but it has been popular. 

And here’s a photo of all three just chillin’ in their PJs

A brief update on Matt and I.  Matt is working ALL the time as Green Lantern gets close to its end date.  We are still waiting to hear when the next project will start and if he’ll be on it or not.  Hopefully they will extend him through May and sign him for the next gig.  We would love the summer off to explore ABQ and visit family and maybe do a short term commercial job.  I love being home with my boys and I am starting to come out of the Baby haze.  I am starting to do craft projects again now that Silas will play with toys on the floor in the playroom.  I just bought some fabric to make the boys TV blankets- robots for Asher and bugs for Kaden.  I need to stop buying supplies and start crafting!  I used my silhouette for the first time this last week and I am in love!  I also want to get good use out of our Explora and Zoo passes over the next two months.  I think we need to go to both at least once a week.  We have friends with passes too so we have been using them fairly regularly already.  Love it!